Forged by Fire
by MoonlitMoony
Summary: Washed up private investigator and former leecher Booker Ryan never had any interest in pokemon or the ongoing fight between Team Plasma or the Pokemon trainer radicalists but when he is hired by a mysterious wealthy patron to seek out the fifteen children of the prophecy he finds himself caught up in the crossfire and that he's more involved than he ever thought.


**Whew, this took way too long, sorry to all my tumblrite readers! Anyway this is my first pokemon story and I hope everyone likes it, it took a whole butt ton of planning and a lot of pokemon watching I didn't necessarily want to do considering the show is pretty painful but yeah here it is.**

**Just so everyone knows this is an AU fic (sort of) where the hero of Black and White fails and the world falls to Team Plasma. **

**So, with that said. There is some SERIOUS BLOOD, MATURE LANGUAGE, ADULT THEMES AND VIOLENCE in this fic so please read carefully. **

**Also if you're still kind of weeping about the killing in Conneticut or you have a hard time with kids dying I'd read with caution.**

**Other than that, enjoy!**

* * *

_At the end of the day there's another day dawning_

_And the sun in the morning is waiting to rise_

_Like the waves crash on the sand_

_Like a storm that'll break any second_

_There's a hunger in the land_

_There's a reckoning still to be reckoned_

_And there's gonna be hell to pay_

_At the end of the day!_

_-Les Miserables_

* * *

_Long ago the five regions, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova, played home the world of pokemon, fantastic creatures of all varieties that possess immense power. In each of these five regions human beings and pokemon lived side by side in harmony; playing together, working together and fighting together. But then, everything changed when the last great champion, known as White, fell to the cruel Ghestis and his ward N. Under Ghestis' control the pokemon world began to fall to ruin and a new reign of terror set in over the pokemon world. Twisted by Ghestis' manipulative words, humans and pokemon no longer lived in harmony, but in fear of one another. Leechers roamed the streets and forests hungrily in search of trainers who still clung to the old ways, homes were ransacked, raided and purged of traitors._

_Three years passed and a prophecy came to light of the final fifteen, the last three trainers from each region to begin their pokemon journeys, that would band together and purge the world of the evil of Ghestis and Team Plasma once and for all. In fear of the prophecy coming true, Team Plasma wiped out every pokemon ever known to be given to a young trainer at the beginning of their journey until there none left. Fifty years passed, prophecy became story, story became myth and myth became legend and soon it was all but forgotten. Not all was lost though for, despite Team Plasma's efforts to purge the world of their greatest threat however, one egg of each of the pokemon of legend survived, hidden away in the most remote areas of each of the five regions waiting for the time when they would be awoken once more and claim the world that they had lost._

* * *

"Claire, hide the kids. They're coming" the husband whispered as he peered through the blinds in the window.

His wife looked back over at their two children, two frightened looking little boys who watched their parents in confusion.

"What's going on Daddy?" the youngest asked. "Why are we hiding?"

Claire watched as Kaine knelt down to the eye level of his children and swallowed hard. There was an uneasiness in his eyes as he began to explain. "We...we're playing a game..." he said.

"A game?" the oldest asked. "Is it like hide and go seek?"

"Yes" Kaine insisted. "That's it, it's exactly like hide and go seek! And the only way you can win is if you are very, very quiet and hide exactly where mommy and daddy tell you and you don't come out until mommy and daddy say so".

"What happens if we lose?" the youngest asked.

Claire turned white and Kaine swallowed as he put a hand on his son's shoulder and shook his head. "You don't" he replied.

The two boys exchanged looks and their father pulled them into a tight hug and kissed each of their foreheads in turn. "I love you, both of you, very much" he whispered. There was something shaky about his voice as if the reality of the situation had finally sunk in.

"I love you too Daddy" the boys each replied in turn. "Now go, quickly, follow your mother".

Claire grabbed each of their hands and pulled them away from their father, each turning to look back at their father one last time before he slipped out of sight behind the kitchen door.

"Where are we going?" the oldest asked. "Where are we hiding?"

"In the cellar, where we keep the wine barrels" Claire said as brightly as possible.

"But I hate it down there" the oldest whined. "I think I saw a galvantula down there once".

"Oh, you're bing silly" Claire said. "There's nothing down there".

She stopped at a finished cedar door and twisted the knob to reveal an dark passage down into the cellar.

"Take my hand" Claire said. "Be careful and watch your step. Some of the boards are coming up".

"Are you gonna hide too mommy?" the youngest asked when they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"No sweetheart" she replied. "Daddy needs me, but I promise I will come find you".

Claire flipped on a nearby switch, illuminating a broad, spacious room filled with rows and rows of kegs of wine stacked neatly on top of one another. The pelliper logo stamped on each of the kegs was very nearly faded. The concrete floor was dusty and needed sweeping and Claire saw something very large quickly out of sight but didn't give it much thought.

She approached two empty barrels at the end of one of the rows and pulled them down from their place. She stood them upright and slid them behind the staircase.

"Alright, in you both go" she said picking up the youngest first.

"Mommy" the youngest whimpered as Claire carefully placed him inside and replaced the lid on his barrel. "I don't like it down here, it's dark".

"It'll be alright sweetheart" Claire whispered hoisting the eldest into his barrel and covering it in turn. "It's only for a little while and then you can come out".

Claire got down on her knees so that she could just barely see her two children from between the cracks in the barrel's wood. "Now you two listen to me. No matter what happens, if you hear screaming, or a gun, or barking or whatever else may happen, you will not say a single word and you may not leave this spot, do you understand?"

"What about you?" the oldest asked. "And dad?"

"We'll be fine" Claire insisted. "We will see you again, I promise".

"But what if you don't?" the oldest whined. "I don't want it to end like this".

Claire shook her head. "It won't be" she said. "I promise, I will come for you".

"Promise?" the boys whispered in unison.

Claire nodded. "I promise" she replied.

Claire gave her children one final, longing look and made her way back upstairs. A cold feelings of dread suddenly filled her. What would happen if she couldn't get to them in time? What if they disobeyed her and came running out too soon? What if the men thought that the children were trainers? She knew they wouldn't hesitate to attack just because they were children.

Claire took a deep breath at the top of the stairs, her hand still lingering on the doorknob.

_It will all be fine_, she said to herself, everything will go exactly as Kaine's planned and then everything can go back to the way it was.

Claire regained her composure and softly shut the cellar door behind her.

"They're almost here" she heard Kaine warn from upstairs. "Just keep quiet and we'll be fine".

Claire heard the attic door slam shut and waited for him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Are the boys safe?" he asked.

Claire nodded and Kaine nodded in return.

"What about the pokeballs in the jar on the mantle?" Claire asked worriedly.

Kaine looked over at the mantle and shook his head. "It'll be fine" Kaine insisted. "They'll never think to look there".

"They say he can see through walls, a little jar-" Claire whispered.

"Claire for heavens sake that's all a myth" Kaine insisted. "I told you I've seen him myself and he's just as human as you and I".

Kaine sighed. "Well, as human as a killer can be anyhow" he replied.

The two of them walked nervously into the living room, it always seemed to be in a constant state of messiness with the boys' toys and books sprawled across the floor and tables. Claire cleared a stuffed bear off the couch and took a seat beside her husband who was beginning to look more and more anxious by the minute. For someone who seemed to have so much faith in his plan, Kaine seemed very nervous.

"I'm frightened" she whispered. "Kaine, what if they find out?"

"They won't" Kaine assured his wife snapping out of his trance. "Everything will go exactly as we planned, they'll come here, they'll do their little search and they'll leave".

Claire turned away from her husband and shivered, rubbing her arms. "I hate those monsters. They always make me so uneasy...ever since they came in and stole Spinda-".

"Shhh" Kaine hissed. "You know the law".

"Oh right" Claire said clapping her hand over her mouth. "Right sorry...I mean...well you know what I mean".

Kaine sighed and rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "I understand. Threatening to kill your entire family unless you release your entire pokemon team isn't something you easily forget" he said.

Claire gave him a small smile. "I'm sure it was very hard" she said.

Kaine nodded and Claire recognized that same sad look Kaine always got when thinking about his team. She sometimes wondered if he ever regretted trading them for his family.

"Do you ever regret it?" Claire asked.

Kaine looked over at her and cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Do you wonder what it would have been like...to have stayed a pokemon trainer and have fought alongside them rather than living like this?" Claire asked.

Kaine smirked. "Sometimes" he replied wistfully. "I mean the freedom and thrill is...great I suppose. But honestly...I'm much happier here with you, helping as I can...even if it isn't very directly. I have you and the boys, I couldn't be luckier. I'm sure my friends are out there somewhere, on their own. I'm sure they've settled in just fine with their own kind. It's as N said, pokemon are meant to be free".

Claire rested her head on her knees. "Even if it means we aren't?" she asked.

Kaine opened his mouth to answer her when suddenly they heard a knock on the door and Claire felt her blood run cold.

"Just relax" he assured her squeezing her shoulder as he got to his feet. "It'll be fine".

Claire nodded and watched as her husband walked towards the door with battered breath, her heart pounding in her ears. Any minute now they'd walk in, they'd find out that she and Kaine had been illegally harboring trainers and they'd be taken away and never seen again.

Claire heard the door open and from the end of the hallways saw Kaine give a respectful nod as a group of men in dressed in white military uniforms stepped into the living room. She saw their leader wipe the dirt from the bottom of his shiny leather boot against the nearby corner and gave a glance around. She would have recognized him anywhere. Not by the polished brass buttons, adorned with the Plasma insignia or the captain's badge pinned to his white coat but his eye. That cold, red, mechanical eye that always shone with a deadly gleam which His well groomed white hair was slicked back to reveal the sharp cheekbones and thin lips beneath his hood. His good eye, hawklike and penetrating, was an unnaturally bright blue.

"Keres..." Claire whispered.

Three or four others who she recognized as soldiers filed in behind him; at their heels a pack of Houndoom who were all sniffing and growling. Their yellow eyes glaring at Kaine and Claire as the group filed in one by one at the heels of each of the grunts. A shorter man with light brown hair filed in next to Keres. A pair of horn rimmed glasses was perched on the bridge of his pointed nose. He was the second in command judging by his uniform and the slightly larger houndoom at his heel. Claire quickly jumped to her feet and stepped aside, looking anywhere but at the captain. She swallowed hard and out of the corner of her eye could see one of the Houndoom eyeing her.

"Won't you take a seat captain?" Kaine said offering him a place on the couch. "Would you like some tea or maybe coffee?"

She could hear the winding of the gears inside his socket as he scanned the room intensely. Claire felt her chest tighten, had any of the trainers left their bags laying about? She knew one of them had stashed their spare pokeballs in the clay jar on the mantle. What if his metal eye could see straight through it?

"No thank you" said Keres. There was something sickeningly calm and polite about his voice, it was almost if he already knew. He playing with them, toying with them like a cat who had caught a rat in it's trap and was only awaiting the proper moment to spring out and pounce. "Don't you and your wife worry yourselves over us. We'll just do our little search and be on our way".

"Please, have a look around, we have nothing to hide here" Kaine insisted. "Claire, honey, move out of their way and let them do their job".

Kaine motioned for her to step aside as the houndoom, second in command and grunts went straight to work. They knocked down tables and chairs, pulled paintings and photographs down from the wall, searching for trapdoors or secret passage ways. They heard the table in the kitchen fall over and the squeaking of the pantry doors. The pots and pans made a loud clatter as they were pulled from their place cabinets and Claire heard one of their plates shatter. How long would it be now before they found the children? How on earth would they explain having hidden them there? Kaine squeezed his wife's hand reassuringly. They heard the stampede of pounding boots thump up the stairs and the sound of crashing from inside the bedrooms. Claire wished desperately that she could only close her eyes and it would all be over.

"I apologize for all the rukus" Keres said glancing over the bookshelf. He selected a book on human anatomy and flipped through it in a bored manor. "I'll have my men clean up when we depart".

Claire swallowed but said nothing and Kaine only nodded.

"Sir" the second in command said stepping out from behind the kitchen door. "There appears to be a wine cellar down here. Should we check it?"

"Yes Ignatius" Keres replied. "And I'm certain our guests here wouldn't mind if we took a bottle or two with us as a parting gift".

Claire saw a muscle in the corner of Kaine's mouth jump. The wine was what remained of the stores that Kaine's father had hidden away. Much of Kaine's wealth had who had come from the profits of the family's vineyard which resided on an island near Olivine City. Many considered it the finest wine in all of the Kanto and Sinnoh region. After the collapse Kaine's father was forced to sell off the land and his precious vineyards to Team Plasma, who now used it for to create their own personal stores. Kaine's father stored the last bit of the wine he could smuggle away in his son's home although he could never bring himself to drink it. The family considered it an heirloom and it was only ever brought out for special events such as births and weddings.

Ignatius looked over at Kaine who seemed to be doing his best to keep as calm as possible and gave him a small, sympathetic grin before he bowed to his superior before stepped back into the kitchen.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan, Keres' men finished up their search and seemed to have nothing to report to their leader. Ignatius kept looking back at Claire and Kaine as though he were hiding something. Claire counted each of the houndoom as they filed into the room after their masters and she felt her stomach tighten. The only houndoom that was missing was Ignatius'. She looked over at the kitchen out of the corner of her eye and suddenly felt Kaine squeeze her hand.

"It'll be alright" he whispered.

"So Brombey, nothing to report?" Keres asked as he examined the trinkets on the mantle.

Claire's heart clenched as he neared the jar and she suddenly found it very hard to breathe.

"No sir" Brombey, a large man with light hair replied with a salute.

"And you say you checked every room?" Keres asked still searching the mantle. His hand was coming dangerously close to the jar.

"Yes sir" he replied. "Myself and the other boys".

Keres grabbed the jar and Claire felt her blood run cold, Kaine seemed to have gone completely stiff. She was so frightened she could feel herself fighting back tears. She kept glancing back at the kitchen. Had Kaine not been gripping her arm so tightly she would have dashed to the cellar then and there.

"Then explain to me" Keres said reaching into the jar and pulling out a pokeball. "How did you miss this?"

The whole room went silent and Claire saw all the blood in Kaine's face drain from it. The men seemed to be kicking themselves and some of them seemed at bit nervous. Kaine swallowed hard and suddenly appeared to be paralyzed with fear, his grip on his wife's hand tightened into a stranglehold. Claire squeezed her husband's hand in return and felt herself struggling to breathe.

"Ignatius" Keres replied looking over at his second in command. He rolled the pokeball in between his spindly fingers as he spoke. "You never gave me your report".

Claire watched as Ignatius swallowed and took a deep breath. "There was something stirring in the cellar sir" he replied. "But we caught it".

"NO!" Claire screamed

She could bear it no longer; she broke free of her husband and sprinted for the cellar.

"NO CLAIRE, DON'T" Kaine screamed. "STOP, YOU'LL LEAD THEM RIGHT TO THEM".

"AFTER HER, GO" Keres snapped.

She wrenched the door open and dashed for the cellar, her heart pounding in her ears. That monster pokemon had the children, that's why it didn't return. It was probably busy ripping off their flesh while they were wasting time in the living room. She could hear the stampede of boots behind her as she dashed into the cellar and slammed the door behind her. She dashed down the stairs, tears stinging her eyes. The men were not far behind and she heard a click as one them loaded his gun. She made a sharp turn at the end of the staircase and bolted for the barrels. She reached out her hand for the first barrel she could see and she felt her fingers touch the front of the barrel.

Suddenly there was the loud bang of a gunshot and Claire suddenly felt a pellet penetrate her stomach. She staggered and the taste of blood filled her mouth.

She could hear Kaine's wild cries from upstairs.

"CLAIRE" she could hear him bellowing. "CLAIRE, NO, CLAAIRE".

The youngest child peeked out from between the boards in the barrel, his dark eyes widening as his mother coughed up blood, clutching the gaping wound in her middle.

"Mommy" the little boy whimpered.

"Shhh" she whispered falling down at his side. "It's alright...now...mommy's...here".

She reached out a bloodied hand and touched the barrel, hoping desperately to somehow feel the warmth of her son's hand touch hers. The world was beginning to fade in and out of view as she struggled to stay alive.

"Mommy's here...you...be..." Claire coughed. "Fine".

She looked back at the raiders, among them Keres, and carefully got to her feet.

"You..." she coughed. "You won't...touch them...I won't...let you".

Keres smirked. "Such a brave mother, willing to die for her children" he said. "I can see you love them very much".

Claire felt a trickle of blood run down the corner of her mouth.

"You don't know the meaning of the word" she spat. "You would need a heart for that".

Keres gave her a wicked grin, his mechanical eye glittering in the light of the cellar flame. "You're right" he said slowly approaching her. Claire swallowed hard as she pressed herself up against the barrels. "I would...wouldn't I?"

"CLAIRE" she heard Kaine call. She heard a crash and the sound of his footsteps dash across kitchen. The cellar door began to shake and beat violently on it's hinges as Kaine struggled to get it open. "CLAIRE! YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER YOU BASTARDS".

Keres leaned in so close to her that she could feel warmth of his breath against her face. "Well then, why don't I take yours?" he whispered.

Claire suddenly felt something cold and sharp stab her chest. She looked down to see the hilt of a dagger protruding from her chest and she cringed as she felt Keres twist the knife deeper into her chest and wrench it free. He released her and Claire felt her legs give way beneath her and she collapsed in a bloody pool in front of the barrels.

The last thing she remembered was the sound of gunfire and the screaming of her children as the men opened fire on the barrels.

Claire closed her eyes.

She would be with her children again soon.

-0-

Ignatius straightened the last of the fallen furniture in the destroyed living room and took a step back to have a look around. The living room was completely restored, the trinkets and furniture knocked down in the scramble was back in order. Brombey and Pritchett were busy wiping down the last of the blood on the walls as Carrow and Melrose began carting away the dead bodies sprawled throughout the hallway and front yard. He held a rag up to his bleeding nose, which was still very sore and from when Keres had broken it when he'd tried to stand up to his superior in defense of the children in the barrels earlier that night. All that that had gotten him was a broken nose, black eye and severe and honestly, rather humiliating reprimanding by his superior and two dead children. He heard the sound of claws clicking on the hardwood floor and looked behind him to see his houndoom, fondly nicknamed Percy by his wife, stopped at his side. Ignatius knelt down to the houndoom's level and the pokemon leaned over and dropped a dead rattata into his master's outstretched hand. It's tiny purple body lay limp, it's eyes glazed over and it's neck snapped. The trademark of a houndoom killing. Ignatius took a seat on the couch and looked over the poor creature, stroking it with a faraway look in his eyes. All this killing, all this death, over this tiny thing. He had, admittedly, found the children while searching the cellar but it was never his intention for Keres or any of the others to know about them. He knew the children weren't trainers, that caterpie that had hidden in the boy's barrel clearly had nothing to do with him, but there was no convincing Keres of that. To him everything was black and white, you were either breaking the law or you weren't.

"It's a shame, isn't it buddy?" he said as Percy rubbed his horns against his master's arm. "All that bloodshed over this little thing".

Percy rested his head on his master's leg and looked up at him sympathetically.

"If only that damn woman hadn't panicked, if she'd only waited a bit a longer she would have seen it was the rattata I was talking about, not the children. Too late now I suppose and at least we caught the perpetrators".

_Perpetrators_, he thought, i_f you can call a bunch of frightened and confused children perpetrators._

"Hey Thistlewhite, mind helping me out here?" Carrow called from outside.

Ignatius passed the dead rattata to his partner who took it in his mouth.

"It's all yours Perce, just wait until we get outside alright? I don't want blood on the carpet, we just cleaned it" Ignatius said.

Percy nodded and followed his master outside where where Carrow was struggling with moving a body to a nearby bedsheet. His houndoom stood stiffly by his side, eyeing Ignatius and Percy as they walked forward. The corpse looked to have been a young man by the look of it, no older than seventeen, his blond hair was stained with blood from the gunshot wound in his forehead. A pidgeotto lay unmoving beside him, it's feathers which stuck up in a very painful angle, were blowing gently in the cool winter breeze and it's head was snapped back at awkward angle. Despite many times as he had seen them, dead bodies always tended to make him very uneasy.

"So, how's the wife?" Carrow asked as Ignatius grabbed the boy's arms and Carrow grabbed his legs.

Ignatius sighed. "Still as depressed as ever. I just can't seem to get her to come around" he replied as they lifted the body onto the sheet. "But then again after last month I can't really blame her".

"You two still tryin' then?" Carrow asked.

"We never really stopped" he said. "But I think this may be the last time. It's really starting to get to her".

"Chronic depression, upset, mood swings, yeah I'd say it's gettin' to her" Carrow replied.

"You're so funny" Ignatius grumbled. "What sort of question is that to be asking your superior anyhow?"

Percy laid down at Ignatius' side and began pulling the flesh from the dead rattata. Carrow's houndoom trotted over to Percy and snapped at him but Percy pushed him away and continued eating.

"Oh right, mister "second in command" everyone knows you only got that position because you're cozyin' up to Keres all the time" Carrow said

"I don't consider it "cozying up", I consider it doing what I need to do so I can eventually be senior enough to get out of having to do this" Ignatius said as he grabbed the left corners of the sheet and Carrow grabbed those on the right.

"I don't see what all your griping is about" Carrow said as they carried the body to a nearby wagon. "This is the best paid job in the system this is, and all we've got to do is weed out a couple ah' stupid criminals-"

"Criminals?" Ignatius snapped.

Carrow went quiet.

"You consider a bunch of scared children running for their lives _criminals_?" Ignatius snapped.

"It's not always kids! And besides, they're breaking the law! It's illegal for any citizen to have or be in the company of a pokemon, you know that" Carrow explained. "What amazes me is that there are so many, I mean where are they coming from anyway?"

Ignatius shrugged. "Beats me" he replied.

"You know what I think...I think they're all coming from the underground" Carrow whispered.

"You mean the so called '_City of Trainers'_? That place is myth, everyone knows that" Ignatius snorted.

"Well it would explain where they all keep coming from" Carrow grumbled.

"Look" Ignatius said. "We've turned the entire pokemon world upside down looking for that place and we've found nothing but a bunch of empty tunnels. It doesn't exist"

Ignatius sighed. "Maybe that's what you think" he said. "But I'm sticking to it".

Ignatius sighed hugely. "So be it" he said.

He and Carrow hoisted the body into the nearby pit and watched as it landed with a thud onto the corpse of two other trainers. What short, sad lives they'd lived. Human and pokemon life was such a valuable thing, there seemed to be something very wrong about seeing it wasted so foolishly.

"What about the pokemon?" Carrow asked.

Ignatius shrugged. "That's not my call" he replied. "Bury it if you'd like".

"Naw...there's no use in letting good meat go to waste" Carrow replied.

He whistled loudly and both his houndoom and Percy came running, their tongues lolled as they licked their chops, staring at the downed pokemon in front of them.

"Alright boys, eat up" Carrow said clapping loudly. "It's all yours".

The dogs quickly set to work on the pidgeotto, growling, ripping and tearing at it's body with their powerful jaws as blood and flesh hung from their mouths. Ignatius looked away and attempted to block out the sound of ripping and gnashing, and saw Pritchett run out of the house and give him a salute.

"Sir" Pritchett said. "Collins is gone".

"Naw, it's alright" they heard Melrose call from inside. "I just saw him down in the cellar. Kind of sad actually. He was just sitting there, holding his dead wife and kids and crying his bleeding heart out, blood all over him".

"What should we do?" Ignatius asked.

"I'm thinkin' we should go in there an put the poor fellow out of his misery" Carrow said. "I know that's what I want".

"NO" Ignatius snapped. "There will be no more bloodshed today and I believe he's received ample punishment".

"So what do we do with him?" Melrose asked.

"I'm not sure" Ignatius replied. "We wait for Keres' orders I suppose. In the mean time I should go down there and check on him. You two stay up here and wait for Keres to return".

"Can we wait inside?" Melrose asked. "It's freezing out here".

Ignatius shrugged. "Just down get mud on the carpet" he said. "Or you're cleaning it up yourself".

-0-

Ignatius' footsteps echoed loudly in the dark, empty cellar as he stepped down from the final stair and onto the concrete floor. Moonlight flooded into the room from a tiny window on the left wall, reflecting it's bright face on the dark liquid that covered the floor. The only sound came from the steady dripping of wine from the holes in one of the nearby barrels and a sniffling from under the stairs. Ignatius knew he'd never be able to replace what had been lost and nothing he said would ever convince Kaine to forgive him for what had happened, but he was a high ranking official and one of the few that Keres actually listened to. With any luck he could convince Keres to let him smuggle Kaine away and get him a new identity, allow him to start over.

Ignatius groaned and kicked a nearby barrel. What was the matter with him? He'd done this a hundred times before? Why was this raid any different from the others?

Still, there was something about the shooting of those boys he didn't think he'd ever be able to forget. Their terrified screams and scrambling of the trapped children as Keres and the others rained a storm of bullets on them. The way that the holes in the barrels ran red with blood and the look on Keres' face. He'd seen many horrible things, but that was one of the worst. The blood wasn't on his hands though, he hadn't shot the children. In fact, he'd tried to stop it. He had done good in that situation, this wasn't his fault. Ignatius took a deep breath, no, he owed Kaine this chance.

He took a deep breath and turned to face the stairs, his eyes shut. Did he dare to look back at the damage that had been done? Could he stand it? Ignatius opened his eyes to Kaine's broken figure was silhouetted in the white light of the moon and his leg was twisted out at an odd angle as if it had been broken. He had a faraway look in his dark eyes and his face glittered with blood as he rocked back and forth, humming something that might have been a lullaby. Caressed in his arms, Ignatius could make out the limp form of two smaller figures, his children. Their bodies were soaked in blood and in the dim light Ignatius caught a glance of the string bullet holes from where they'd been shot. His wife, Claire, lay motionless by his side, her dark eyes wide and staring at the final glimpse of death.

Ignatius sniffed and swallowed hard. There was nothing he hated more than seeing dead children, especially those who hadn't deserved it.

He closed his eyes. "Mr. Collins" he said stiffly.

Kaine ignored him and pulled his children closer to him. Ignatius caught the glimmer of a single tear run down his cheek. Ignatius knew Kaine was probably still in terrible grief over having lost his entire family at once but he knew if Kaine was still here when Keres returned, the poor man would receive a punishment worse than death.

"Mr. Collins" Ignatius repeated, louder this time. "Mr. Collins, you must get up".

"Leave me be" Kaine snapped, his voice choked with tears. "Haven't you and your kind done enough damage already?"

Kaine sobbed. "They were so young...Jamie was going to have his sixth birthday in a few weeks. He was so excited" he choked.

Ignatius looked down at the youngest boy, his eyes closed and his tiny body still, it was almost as though he could be sleeping.

Ignatius sighed. "I'm sorry Mr. Collins. I assure you, I never meant for any of this to happen" he said gesturing to the bodies of Claire and the children.

"You ratted them out" he snapped.

"I did not" Ignatius said firmly. "I was only referring to the rattata my houndoom had caught. Had your wife not panicked and run, none of this would have happened".

"Don't you dare blame this on her you swine" Kaine snapped.

Ignatius nodded. "Now, I understand-" he began.

"You understand?" Kaine snapped.

Ignatius opened his mouth.

"What could you possibly understand?" Kaine snapped "I've just lost...everything. First I lost my butler, then my closest friends and now...now my entire family...my wife...my children..." he swallowed back tears. "And you, I bet you've never lost anyone before in your life. You monsters go around destroying everything in your path, you probably have no idea what it's like to always be alone, hungry, afraid, never knowing whether or not you're going to live to see another day".

"Well it isn't exactly as if you were living in the slums" Ignatius snapped. "Well fed, living in a fine house with marble floors, wine cellar, you aren't one to be talking about poverty or fear".

"Maybe not" Kaine said. "But I have seen it. I saw it yesterday in the eyes of those poor kids you just slaughtered. They were tired and hungry and frightened".

"They knew their crimes" Ignatius replied. "And you should have known better than to take them in. You know hiding fugitives is against the law. If you knew there was a chance that this" he gestured to the bloodied bodies before him, "could happen, why risk it? Why would put you and your family in danger?"

"Because we believe in something bigger than ourselves" Kaine said. "We believe in the hope that we can again live in a world of peace, side by side with pokemon like we did before. A world without people like you".

Ignatius shot him a nasty look. "Oh really?" he snapped. "Well, look at where your "hope" has gotten you. Tell me Kaine, where is your little "revolution", your little underground friends? Have they abandoned you?"

"The fifteen will rise" Kaine snapped. "And when they do, Ghestis and all the rest of you and your kind will fall".

"The fifteen, the City of Trainers, those are nothing but fairytales Kaine, myths, legends. I'm offering you something real. Come with me, I'll help you start over. We'll give your family a proper burial, you can get a new name, a new life. I only want to help you" Ignatius pleaded.

"I don't want _your_ help" Kaine snapped. "There's nothing you or your kind can do for me that I'll accept".

Ignatius licked his lips. "Look, I'm only doing this because I have a wife at home and...I know what it's like to love someone so dearly and..." he sighed. "I did not shoot...but, although I did try to...I techinically did not stop it either...

Kaine snorted. "So kind of you to suddenly grow a conscience" he said.

Ignatius gave an exasperated sigh. "Look" he snapped. "It's me or Keres and I can assure you, he won't be as kind".

"I'd rather take Keres, at least he doesn't hide his cruelty" Kaine said coldly.

"Fine" Ignatius snapped getting to his feet and kicking the spilt wine into Kaine's face. "Have it your way. I offer you a chance to make amends, to start over and you spit in my face. Rot here for all I care".

Ignatius saw Kaine wiped the wine from his face and turn back to kiss his dead son on the forehead. At least he'd had children to kiss, even if he was dead now, he had never been so lucky. Perhaps if the idiot hadn't been so busy fooling around with those slave driving cretins his family would still be alive. If it were him who'd been lucky enough to have children, he would have gone out of his way to protect them, not gamble their lives on fairy tales and myths. Kaine was as much a murderer as he was. He was half way up the the stairs when he suddenly heard Kaine call out to him.

"Wait".

Ignatius licked his lips. "Yes?" he asked.

"There is something you can do" Kaine said. "To help me".

Ignatius stopped in mid step tightened his grip on the staircase railing.

"Kill me" Kaine begged.

Ignatius froze.

"Please" Kaine pleaded. "If you truly want to do good put me out of my misery. Let me see my family again, I beg of you. I mean, you didn't have any problem shooting those kids earlier".

Ignatius sighed. "You don't know what you're saying" he said at last.

"Yes I do" Kaine said. "Please, I'm begging you".

Ignatius swallowed and held his head high as he continued up the stairs.

"FOR PITY'S SAKE" Kaine called. "YOU MUST HAVE ONE MERCIFUL BONE IN YOUR BODY, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE".

"NO" Ignatius snapped.

Kaine gave him a stern look.

"Do you think I enjoy this job?" Ignatius snapped. "You think it's the highlight of my life? Raiding people's homes? Murdering the innocent and the ignorant? Of course not! I hate this, but it keeps a roof over my family's head and bread on the table and that's a lot more than a lot of other people can say. You sit here, begging for death like a child while countless others are starving in the streets. You are so blessed and yet you take it all for granted. Everything you've ever wanted you've been given on a silver platter, never having to decide on whether to eat for the next week or keeping the roof over your head. News flash, you spoiled rich boy, that isn't how life works. You had everything, a fantastic home, a happy, loving wife and two beautiful children to come home to..." Ignatius' grip on the railing tightened. "And you squandered it all, squandered it on a _fairy tale_ and that" he took a deep breath, "is the greatest crime of all. One for which you _will_ be punished".

Ignatius stomped up the stairs angrily as he heard Kaine calling out angrily behind him. "YOU'LL REGRET THIS" he snapped. "YOU'LL RUE THE DAY YOU DIDN'T KILL ME IN WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE. I'LL FIND YOU THISTLEWHITE AND WHEN I DO, YOU'LL BE SORRY".

Ignatius slammed the cellar door behind him and stormed out of the kitchen. Percy greeted him in the living room, licking his hand and rubbing his horns against his leg.

_Sorry indeed,_ he thought with a smirk.

-0-

Five years later...

The winter wind whipped harshly across the barren snowy landscape, bending back the weak, barren trees like rubber. Somewhere in the distance a sawsbuck, it's thick white coat and barren antlers picked at a barren tree in the hopes of finding a bit of greenery to nibble as a deerling rubbed it's head against it's parent's leg. The sawsbuck froze as a loud howl ripped through the air and it quickly hurried it's young into the safety of the woods and it followed after. A pack of mightyena leapt out down from a nearby hill and suddenly stopped, sniffing the winter air for a scent of their prey and then continuing on their way. A braviary swooped down into a nearby tree and ruffled it's feathers, staring out into the bleak winter landscape for a moment before taking off again and a red feather fell from it's tail and swirled wildly about in the wind, over tree tops and roof tops. It caught the leg of a mightyena but was kicked away and it flew a bit father, hitting a tree branch and landing in a swirling motion on a patch of soft snow stained a dark red. A pair of bright purple eyes and a bright red gem suddenly shone brightly through the thick winter wind and approached the patch slowly. A small purple, feline-like body materialized and leaned down, sniffing at the red snow cautiously. It's great purple ears twitched and it suddenly froze and snapped up and looked back.

"ESPEE" it suddenly cried, following the trail of blood up the hill where a tiny flame was barely visible through the thick of the snow.

A pack of mightyena were circling the flame like hawks, licking their chops and growling hungrily, prepared to strike at any moment. The tiny feline-like pokemon leapt in front of the flame and gave the mightyena an angry pentrating gaze, growling as it's fine fur stuck straight up on it's back. It lowered itself warningly, leaping back and forth frantically in an effort to keep them back. She knew they were dark type pokemon and her psychic powers would do her no good and she couldn't risk a hyper beam. She could try attract but it wouldn't work on all of them. One of the mightyena grinned, it's cold yellow eyes beaming maliciously, she was all out of time for planning now. It leaned down, clawing at the snow and suddenly pounced. It's sharp jaws were bared as it leapt at her neck and she looked away, bright purple eyes snapped shut in fear when suddenly she felt a sharp chill brush over her back and something heavy fell beside her. She looked up and saw, to her relief, the faint outline one of her partners, Givrali the glaceon, right on time. The remaining mightyena snarled and started for the ice pokemon. It whipped it's icicle-like ears around, it's bright blue eyes glowing brightly as it shot another beam of ice at a nearby attacker. Espeon leapt at one of the straggling mightyena and snapped at it's back. It whimpered and fell into the snow. A bolt of thunder suddenly shot from somewhere in the distance and a bright, spiky-feline like pokemon bolted out of the snow and struck a nearby mightenya. A shot of fire ripped through the snow, scorching one of the mightyena, sending it tearing off into the wood barking loudly. Blitz the jolteon had arrived along with, Flare the flareon who was shaking the snow from it's fluffy cream coat dashed after the remaining mightyena. In the craze the espeon, Oracle, spied a fresh group of straggling mightyena dash back towards the flame, teeth bared. Where were the others?

Just as the mightyena was halfway up the hill espeon felt something moving in the molecules of the frozen landscape and suddenly something big and blue materialized from inside the snow and sunk it's teeth into the mightyena's leg. The pokemon let out a yip and tumbled just short of the flame. The snow around the blue finned feline pokemon suddenly rose up around it and dissolved into water, forming a powerful wave which crashed over two of the mightyena and sent them spiraling away. Their leader Aquali, a vaporeon growled and slapped the remaining two mightyena away with a powerful water whip and snapping at another and taking it down and running towards the snarling pack surrounding jolteon, flareon and glaceon.

Oracle suddenly felt a shudder in her fine fur and she looked up, but it was too late, another mightyena suddenly lunged at her from the darkness but in mid attack something dark rose up from her dim shadow and pushed the pokemon back, the bright yellow rings on it's body glowing brightly as it's jaws snapped the mightyena's neck and it fell limp before running off after the others, Noct the umbreon.

Oracle shook the snow from her fine fur and looked around cautiously, it seemed they were gone, at least for now. She was many things but a fighter was not one, especially when it came to dark pokemon. She looked up and saw the group congregating at the top of the hill where the group seemed to be bickering among themselves. Although humans cannot understand the strange language of pokemon, among themselves it is a universal language, differing among species only in accent.

"I'm his keeper" snapped Noct as Oracle trotted up alongside him. "He's my responsibility"

"And we can see you're doing a great job of it" Blitz snorted, his brown scarf still crackling with static electricity.

"Shut up Blitz" Noct snapped.

"Ooh, getting a little touchy aren't we?" Blitz asked. "Way to show up at the end of the fight by the way, something more important come up?"

"I was looking for my charge, no different from the rest of you" Noct defended.

"Right..." Blitz said skeptically looking over at flareon and glaceon who glanced back at him. "I mean you know how dark pokemon are...they're only out for themselves".

"What are you getting at?" Noct demanded.

"Well you see" Blitz said. "It's funny because no one knew we were going to be out here tonight and suddenly, the moment you disappear a pack of mightyena suddenly appear out of nowhere. And when things were starting to go downhill you suddenly appeared".

"I had nothing to do with it" Noct snapped.

"Sure you didn't...you're the only one who speaks their language" Blitz taunted.

"Us dark types speak the tongue of Arceus, no different from you static for brains" umbreon snapped.

"What did you say?" growled jolteon, the electricity in it's spiked coat sparking dangerously. "You know if I were the one in charge, you'd be dead already".

"But you aren't" the vaporeon snapped stepping between them. "I am and you will not touch him. We have no proof that Umber had anything to do with the attack".

"He's a dark type, I think that's proof enough" Blitz snapped.

"We will not kick him out because of his type Blitz" Aquali snapped.

"This is the opportunity he's been dying for" Aquali argued. "Make him the charmander's charge, imagine how much of a reward he'd get for turning him in. A week's worth of food, maybe a place at Ghestis' court?"

"Enough" Aquali snapped.

"Aquali" they suddenly heard flareon say as she pushed back the last bit of snow. "Aquali look!"

The group suddenly gasped staggered back.

"Is that a..." asked Givrali.

"Boy...it's a human boy!" Aquali exclaimed as espeon pushed the last of the snow away to reveal a young boy, no older than five. His skin was white and he was cold to the touch but espeon could still sense a weak pulse. His left leg was wet with blood and his dark hair, still wet, stuck to his skin. Charmander was curled up on his frozen figure, using the dim heat radiating from the small flame of it's tail to keep the boy warm. "But what's he doing out here?"

"I found blood tracks not far from here" Espeon said. "I thought they might belong to charmander but they smelled human".

"They must be his" Aquali replied. "Charmander...charmander...what were you thinking? You had us all worried sick. You know we would lose everything if something happened to you. Go on, get up we have to get back before you freeze".

The little orange lizard shook his head and curled up tighter. "No" the chamander snapped. "He's mine, my human, mine you're not taking him away from me".

Vaporeon gave a surprised look and his fellows returned it.

"Oracle?" Aquali asked looking over at her. "Mind having a look?"

Oracle nodded moved towards him. She definitely sensed that there was something about this boy, something special that seemed to bind he and charmander that she hadn't seen in the others that had tried for him. She touched her tiny paw to his arm and nuzzled his chin. She could sense something like a great light in him, much as she had the others as she moved closer to his chest she felt a sudden darkness rear up, snakelike and snap at the light which reared back, whirrling in a violent storm.

"I sense in him the same as I did in the Lore child but there is something different here...this boy...he has seen great pain...endured great suffering..." Oracle said.

"Sure he has" Blitz snorted. "He was attacked by a pack mightyena, I'd say that's pretty scaring".

"Something worse than that you mindless twit" Oracle snapped. "For example why is he alone?"

"I dunno, mightyena ate his parents?" Givrali guessed.

Oracle rolled her eyes, of all the idiots to be stuck with.

"I highly doubt that. Mightyena are meat eaters but they rarely attack humans" Aquali said. "Must have been something else".

"So what do we do with him?" Flareon asked.

"Yeah, for all we know...he could be plasma" Blitz said.

"He's a child" Oracle snapped.

"Doesn't mean he's not a nasty little brute" Blitz barked.

"He's not nasty" charmander snapped. "He's my human and he's not nasty".

"Enough" Aquali snapped. "We have no time to bicker, the boy's time is running out. Oracle, do you sense the bond?"

Oracle nodded firmly.

"Good, that's cause enough. Noct, go signal the humans, quickly" Aquali commanded.

"HIM?" demanded Blitz. "But I'm faster!"

"Noct travels in shadow, far more silent" Aquali snapped as he and the others began to pull him out of the snow. "And we can't risk those beasts coming back. "For all we know this boy could be one of the ones we've been looking for...".

"Or he could be the one we've feared" Oracle said.

"What?" Blitz snapped. "Why would you tell us that now?"

"Because we have no choice" Oracle said. "Charmander obviously feels a great bond with this boy and he does have the same light as the others. But the darkness in him..."

She sighed.

"Is this a chance we should be taking?" Aquali asked. "Should we risk everything the revolution has worked towards for him?"

Oracle nodded. "We have no choice, we'll have to take our chances and pray to Arceus that the boy will work in our favor. For should he choose to fight at our side, we will rise to freedom like the sun but if he should chose to turn to the dark within him, we will surely fall".


End file.
